Locking device for motor vehicles



June 16, 1931. A. wr-:lss 1,810,381

LOCKING DEVICE FCR MOTOR VEHICLES Filed Aug. 24, 1928 IN VEN TOR.

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' ATTORNEYS.

latented lunei 1.6,- 1931;

- ABRAHAM wnIss, on NEW Yoran, N. Y.

IlocKIiNG nnvrcn FoRfMoT'on VEHICLES' i .Y Application filed August 24, 1928. Serial No. 301,846.

` The present invention relates to motor vehicles.V Itfreqnentlyh-appens that when the vehicle stops in heavy trac fa person runs up to the vehicle and in an attempt to enter 8 thefsame eitherl to steal a ride or because of being 'in a hurry, opens the vdoor without first notifying the driver. If y.at the moment the door is"openedfth"e vehicle is set inmotion an accident may result to the prospective 10 riden 'Accidents* also 4often* happen `which result inlinjuryto -passengers or to the ve- Ahicle as a result of the doorbeingopen while the vehicle is inmotion. f

The object of this invention is to prevent such accidents or damage, which I accomplish laccording to the presentinvention by electrical means so arranged between the door of the vehicle and other parts of the machine thatwhen the door is open and anvattempt is Y made to runl the car the motor will'stop.

' Afrfurther objectzisito so arrange my device that the engine will run idle even thoughv Vthe door `be open butwill stall immediately when any attempt is madetodrive the machine, either by depressing the accelerator,

shifting the gear or-other similar starting operations: Y n f Other objects will appear from the detailed description to ollow."j` ,n

Intheaccompanying drawings in which ksimilar reference characters denote correspending partslig. '-1 is aside view of avehicle partly in vsection showing my newk device associated' with a 'door and the.v acceler- 3-5 ator of the vehicle; Fig; 2 shows the details of the' electricalcircuit. and the method of associatingmy device with the gearshifting mechanism and Fig. 3 shows 'a further modification whereiny Iassociate rmy circuit with'the transmission shaft. p 10 denotesa motor vehiclefofy any type or Vconstruction employing for instance a high tension spark deviceA 11 to produce ignition. 12 denotes the `usual gas feed acceler- Y atorjon thervehicle and 13 denotes a door ot the vehicle. 141 denotes a switch adapted to be controlled'tfrom the accelerator and having contactpoints 14 and 142 so arranged that when the accelerator 12 is lundepressed `or in idle position abridging contact member 143-yattached to the accelerator 12 willi only .contact with, member 14C Immediate-1 ly however that said accelerator y12 is depressed the member 1113 will bridge both c0nn tact points 14. and 142. 15 denotes theV wall 55 of the vehicle to which the door'j13 is hinged. Y

Between the opposite edges .of the door 13 and'said wall 15 l provide aswitch which according to the present embodiment is constructed as follows: v In a Vgroove provided in the wall kr15 is mounted a. cylindrical casing 18 of insulating ymaterial the outer open end of which is closed by an annular member 19 of conductive material. Slidably .mounted in the cylindery k18is a disc 20 of conductive material which is'actuated by aspri'ng Qlfone endfof which is fixed to the inner face of said disc 2O and the other end to a plate 22 of conduct-v ing material provided with anfelectrical con- '70, nection 23 projecting through the cylinder'lS. The outer face ofsaid discv 20 has screwed or otherwise iXed to it a'slug yor pin 24 of non-conductive Vmaterial f which projects f 1tjhrough and isv guided inthe annular mem- 75 er1 v v a Q The spring 21 tends when the door` is open to force the pin 24; outwardly and hold the disc 2O in contact with the inner facek of Y member 19. f When the door is closed its edge c 13 will depress the plug Ql'and as a result j thereof move the disc 2O out of ,contact with i member 19. The disc 22 and its lead 23 constitute one of. the terminals of switch and is connected to ground by wire 25;v vThe mem-y 85 ber 19 is connected by a wire26 toone of the contactpoints as '14 of switch 14 "and the` second contact point 142is connected' by wire 27 to lone of theinterrupter points 4l1 'ofthe high tension sparkfdevice 11.y The other 99 ypoint 112 is connected to ground.

It will'be clear then that when the door of the vehicle is open the door switch will close.- However, nothing else will happen yetfv As u v soon however as the operator attemptsY toy 9u speed up the engine by depressingthe accelerator thenthe bridging contact member 143 willy close the circuit throughthe contact points '14 and 142 and short circuit the` interrupter points 11 and 112 through the ground ma thus stalling the engine. It will be noted particularly that the mere act of opening the door without depressing' the accelerator will not stall the engine. It is only when an actual attempt is made to start the car moving that the short circuiting of the ignition system will take place.

It is of course possible to arrange my system with other elements in the mechanism necessary to drive the car. For instance I can associate it with the gear shift mechanism as is shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings to spread out.

wherein the high tension ignition device'll and the door switch are the same as before. In place of the accelerator switch l2 I attach such switch mechanism to the gear shift mechanism. 28 represents the gear shift casing in which are the sliding rods 29, which communicate with gears in the transmission system. Each of said rods is provided with an enlarged portion having slotted portions 29 on their inner faces for the en gagementof the usual movable gear shift lever 30 whereby each of the rods 29 may be moved forward or backward to shift the gears to the desired position. Provided at the outer faces of said rods 29 are contact projections 31 which are designed to contact withk contact members 32, insulatively mounted by means of insulation members 33 on. the gear casing28, when either of the rods 29 are shifted forward or backward. The members 32 are connected in parallel by wires 32 so that when either of the rods 29 are shifted forward or backward, the same electric. circuit may be closed, and when the gears are in neutral position open circuit is obtained. This switch mechanism may be connected as shown in Fig. 2 the casing 23 being connected Y to ground by wire 322 and being directly in contact with rods 29 is also connected to switch points 3l. Contact members are connected by wires 32 to plate 22 by wire 26 and connection 23, thence plate i9 is connected by wire. 27 to contact ll of the ignition device and contact 112 thereof is grounded. When the door is opened, doorI switch 19is closed. Then any attempt to shift gears closes the circuit through contacts 3l and 32 short circuiting the points 11 and 112 and stopping kthe engine.

In another modification shown in Fig. 3 the gear shift switch is replaced by a switch arranged on the transmission rod of the machine. Provided on the transmission shaft 34 of engine 35, is a governor arrangement having contacts 36 arranged to contact with stationary ycontact 37 when the speed of the shaft 34 is such as to cause said contacts 36 Thus the short circuit across the ignition device 11 is accomplished by the closing ofthe switch points 36 and 37 when the transmission shaft is speeded up on starting of the machine.

It is of course possible to have my electrical control affect points in the ignition system other than the interrupter points of the ignition device without departing from the spirit of my invention and it is obvious that my invention may be modified in various other ways and I do not wish to be limited to the modifications shown and described.

For instance I may provide auxiliary switches in the circuit of my system whereby if it is used with a taXicab it will be impossible to run the machine without a passenger in the rear and the flag of the taximeter down, or vice versa.

- What I claim is: v

l. In a motor vehicle having driving control means, a door and an electrical fuel ignition system,A a switch controlled through said door, a switch controlled through said driving control means and series electric connections between said switches across the ignition system such that when the door is open and the driving kcontrol is placed in operative posi-l tion the ignition system will be short circuited.

2. In a motor vehicle having drivin control means, a door and an electrical fue i tion system, a switch controlled by said oor yand adapted to be closed electrically when said door is open, a second switch controlled by said driving control and adapted to be closed electrically when said driving control is in operative position, series electrical connection between said switches across the ignition system whereby when said door is open and said driving control is placed into operative position said ignition system will be short circuited.

3. In a motor vehicle having a gear shift mechanism, a door and an electrical fuel ignition system, a switch controlled by said door, a switch controlled by said gear shift mechanism and adapted to be closed in all positions but neutral, an electric connection between said switches across the ignition system such that when said door is open and said shift mechanism is moved out of neutral,

said ignitionfsystem will be rendered ineifective. f v

4. In a `motor vehicle having a transmission shaft, a door and an electrlcal fuel ignition system, a switch controlled through said door, a switch controlled by said transmission shaft and adapted to close when said transmission shaft is speeded up on starting of the vehicle and an electric connection between said switches across the ignition system such that when said door is open and said shaft is speeded up said ignition system will be rendered ineffective.

5. In a motor vehicle having an accelerator, a door and an electrical fuel ignition system, a. switch controlled through said door, a switch controlled by said accelerator and adapted to Vclose when thelatter is actu-y ated and an electric connection between said switches across the ignition system such that When said door isopen and said accelerator is activatedy said ignition system will be rendered inefeotive. n

In testimonyr whereof I afx my signature.

ABRAHAM WEISS 

